Discover the expert in you.
Discover the expert in you.
Pergolas and arbors, often used interchangeably, are among a wide variety of permanent outdoor structures that can be built on your property to cover a walkway, sitting area or outdoor living space. They are also used to support climbing plants. Historically, pergolas supported grapes and provided shaded corridors extending from one building to another. Today you can often find pergolas covering sidewalks and pathways in residential as well as commercial areas.
A springtime walk through Florida natural lands such as state or national parks will provide you with several opportunities to see many of the native trees in flower. While most flowering natives produce white flowers, you may get lucky enough to notice some of the pinks, reds and yellows of others.
Removing the stem from a silk flower is something that you have to do with a regular pair of nippers. Remove the stem from a silk flower to use it as a hair clip with help from a crafts professional in this free video clip.
Handmade bridal corsages are a great opportunity to give your big day a more personal touch. Make handmade bridal corsages with help from a floral design professional in this free video clip.
Ribbon and roses decorating is perfect for someone like a little girl. Do ribbon and roses decorating with help from a crafts expert in this free video clip.
Thistles are known for their prickly foliage and their habit of spreading rapidly by self-seeding. Although they are considered to be noxious weeds in many areas, thistles also attract bees and butterflies, so some people include them in their gardens. Many different plants go by the common name of "thistle," and their flowers come in several shades of pink, purple and blue. Thistles can be grown in U.S. Department of Agriculture plant hardiness zones 3 through 9.
One of the most common parts of any wedding is the wreath that the flower girl traditionally wears over her head. Make a wreath of flowers for a flower girl's head with help from an experienced professional gardener in this free video clip.
Making a silk flower corsage is something you can do by following just a few basic, easy to manage steps. Learn about silk flower corsages and get creation instructions with help from a world renowned floral designer in this free video clip.
Dry flower and plant arrangements always require you to keep a few very specific things in mind. Learn about dry flower and plant arrangements with help from a world renowned floral designer in this free video clip.
Making roses or flower magnets is something you can do through the careful use of the right kinds of foam. Make roses or flower magnets out of foam with help from a crafts expert in this free video clip.
Whether or not brides can wear colored flowers in their hair depends largely on a few important issues. Find out if brides can wear colored flowers in their hair with help from the founder of I Do…Weddings! in this free video clip.
When making frilly, loopy felt flowers, you're always going to want to approach your project from a very important angle. Make frilly, loopy felt flowers with help from a dedicated and passionate arts and crafts expert in this free video clip.
Ribbon roses make great decorations for a wide variety of different baby items. Decorate baby items with ribbon roses with help from a florist, interior decorator and party planner in this free video clip.
When making a pointy fabric flower, you should always have access to a few basic tools. Find out how to properly make a pointy fabric flower with help from an artist and crafts expert in this free video clip.
Making flowers out of cello wrap is something you can do with zip ties, some string and scissors. Make flowers out of cello wrap with help from the founder and Chief Executive Maniac of Marketing Maniacs, Inc. in this free video clip.
Gumdrop, fudge and cookie flower crafts are a great way to put a new spin on an old favorite project. Make gumdrop, fudge and cookie flower crafts with help from a distinguished crafts expert in this free video clip.
When making a football out of flowers, you're always going to want to make sure that you have a few key tools nearby. Make a football out of flowers with help from an event planner and designer in this free video clip.
You can color photos of flowers in a number of different ways to completely change the way they look depending on your preferences. Color photos of flowers with help from an art director in this free video clip.
Roses need to be pressed in a very specific way for the best possible results. Learn how to press roses with help from a respected and highly accredited florist in this free video clip.
A symmetrical flower is a great, easy craft that is as fun to make as it is to enjoy when its done. Learn about a do-it-yourself symmetrical flower with help from a dedicated and experienced flower aficionado in this free video clip.
With some ribbons and household craft supplies, you can make your own sunflowers to brighten your home. Handmade crafts add a personal touch when you’re decorating for holidays or other occasions, and festive ribbons are inexpensive and easy to work with no matter what your skill level. If you’re handy with a stapler and glue gun, you don’t have to wait for gardening season to end—you can make bouquets of golden ribbon sunflowers any time of year.
Making your own fabric flower frame for a plain mirror adds a creative and playful touch to a room. Create these fabric flower mirrors--ideal for a child's bedroom--using leftover fabric from a sewing project or old clothes. Use just about any type of fabric material, such as lace, cotton, satin, wool or even jeans, to create this simple craft.
Potpourri scents your home using natural fragrance and essential oils, and is often placed into bowls or vases for display. Bring the fragrant aroma of potpourri into your drawers and closets by using potpourri pillows. Although potpourri pillows are available at any department or home decorating store, save money by making your own using a few basic supplies and tools purchased inexpensively at any craft supply store. This enables you to customize the potpourri pillows by selecting the fabric you prefer.
Decorative bows make wrapped gifts creative and fanciful. The flexibility and stiffness of curling ribbon helps it hold shapes ranging from roses to stars. Purchasing ribbon flowers for each gift becomes expensive, especially if you plan on decorating several dozen packages for a birthday or holiday season. Don't let their intricate appearance discourage you from trying to create them yourself. Making flowers out of curling ribbon doesn't require master craft skills. All it takes is some simple repetition.
Choose fabric flowers and leaves for your decorating projects as they are more resilient and last longer than real flowers. You can purchase fabric in many colors and patterns to match any decorating scheme. Additionally, you can get creative when designing and shaping fabric flowers and leaves, making them any shape or size you want. Use fabric flowers for wedding boutonnieres and centerpieces to save money and expand the limits of your wedding colors and theme.
Fabric flowers were first created as a means to capture the pretty blooms seen in nature and make them last longer. There are many ways of making such flowers, and you can use any type of material. But to make an elegant-looking flower, use a delicate fabric such as silk, organza or taffeta. The sheen and feel of these fabrics will lend a refined air to the finished piece. These flowers are easy to make and can be embellished with pearl or rhinestone beads.
Felted flowers make beautiful embellishments for hair accessories, clothing and home décor accessories. These flowers are made from loose wool fibers that undergo a process to join them together into a single, stable shape. You can make a neutral-colored flower for an accessory that coordinates with anything, or use a variety of different colored wool fibers for a rainbow flower that stands out from the background.
Boutonniere is a French term meaning buttonhole. It refers to the small floral arrangement worn by men. It is similar to a woman's corsage in that it is a small cluster of flowers worn at special events. However, Boutonnieres are smaller and contain less flowers. Boutonnieres originated in the 1700s and were worn by slipping the stem of the flower through the buttonhole. Today, boutonnieres are pinned to the left lapel on a man's suit. They can be made with fresh or silk flowers.
Fabric rosebuds and roses capture the essence of their fresh counterparts, in a frozen state that will last over time. These fabric replicas are easy to make and require only basic sewing skills. Attach your fabric rosebuds and roses to brooch pins, headbands, belts, bracelets, purses, hats and shoes for instant adornment. Rosebuds require less fabric than full-bloom flowers, and can be mixed among a grouping of fabric roses to create variety in your display.
Making decorative flowers and designs for your home can give you an outlet for your creativity as well as provide a warm and fashionable touch for your home. Dupioni fabric is easy to work with when making decorative items like flowers because it is somewhat stiff and will retain its shape after you make your flower. Fabric flowers can also be used at parties and weddings.
Decorating a Barbie doll house doesn't require multiple trips to the toy store. Creating your own rugs and fabric items allows you to personalize the house so it looks just as you want. Felt doesn't fray when it's cut and requires no special finishing, making it a suitable material for quick dollhouse projects. Create the rug to match the traditional pink color scheme for Barbie, or choose different colors to suit your child's preferences.
Making your own aisle flowers requires two things, like a vase with water. Learn about do-it-yourself aisle flowers with help from a longtime florist in this free video clip.
Monograms are a classic way to personalize your home decor, and a floral monogram wreath adds a welcoming touch to any doorway. Initial wreaths made with fresh flowers are an elegant touch for a wedding or party, while you can use silk flowers to make a wreath that will decorate your doorway for months. This project is simple and inexpensive, which allows you to easily create a new flower wreath for each season using seasonal colors and blooms.
Fabric flower poufs are fluffy flowers that add a decorative embellishment to articles of clothing, centerpieces and hair accessories. By sewing together multiple layers of fabric in the shape of a flower blossom, you will create a pouf design that you can attach to sweaters, hats, blouses, dresses, hair clips, headbands and lovely table centerpieces. Make fabric flower poufs out of virtually any fabric, but the best results occur when you use two different types of fabric. This will bring texture and contrast to your decoration. Choose fabric measurements based on the number and size of the poufs that you're…
New rose cultivars are created through the process of breeding or cross-pollinating two parent rose plants by hand. You can plant and grow the resulting seeds to see if your match was successful in creating a new type of rose. The new roses may contain various characteristics from each of the parent plants, or be completely different as recessive genes present themselves. Breed your roses in the spring seasons as their blooms begin to mature.
Camellias are beautiful, large flowers native to Japan, China and throughout East Asia. You can bring a little bit of the Far East to a special event, or even to your home dining room by making a stunning bouquet of fabric camellias. Use a luxurious silk or satin fabric for a special artificial flower corsage that will last long after the special event, or make a bouquet from leftover scraps of rayon fabric for an inexpensive home decoration.
Making attractive and enjoyable paper crafts is a fun way to keep kids and the young at heart busy when it's activity time and the weather doesn’t allow you to be outdoors. Simple shredded paper will give your craft a unique look in which each petal in the flower differs from all other petals. The softer the paper, the more gently you will need to tear the paper, but softer paper will allow you to manipulate the petals easier. Combine sheets of colored tissue paper to create colorful detail, or use white tissue paper and watercolors to create unique color…
A vase full of fresh-cut greens and flowers is so beautiful you may wish it would last forever. Forever isn’t possible, but with the help of an item you probably already have on hand — hairspray — you can help fresh or dried bouquets stay attractive longer. Use hairspray to keep leaves hydrated and shiny, but don’t confine the benefits to just the foliage. Extend the display life of arrangements by using hairspray to preserve both the leaves and the petals of flowers.
When looking for a way to add a personal touch to clothing and accessories, fabric handmade flowers and poms can provide a soft medium in which to express your creativity. These small craft projects can also be used to add a personal touch to your home decor, or the decor of a special event. All you need is fabric, a few craft supplies and basic sewing skills.
Lucky for everyone who has cause to wear one, daisy wrist corsages have undergone a metamorphosis, of sorts. They still come in their original elastic band style, but they also are available in a more elaborate cuff bracelet style adorned with jewels, pearls and other embellishments. Think of them like ladies wristwatches, which were once available in simple bands and now come in a wide assortment of bangle bracelets of every size and shape. Whichever style you choose, be sure to make the focal point of your daisy wrist corsage the beautiful and graceful daisy.
Sometimes your roses need a more permanent method of preservation than standing in a vase of water. Lacquering your roses covers each flower with a glossy, protective coat that prevents crumbling, fading and browning. Styles of lacquering range from a natural appearance to glitter covered petals trimmed in gold paint. Lacquering your roses isn't difficult, but a basic understanding of flower preservation is helpful.
The calla lily is famed for its elegance and beauty. Its tall, straight silhouette complements classic, minimalist and romantic decor, and blossoms are available in white, yellow, purple, pink and orange. Use full-size lilies for table centerpieces and bouquets and match them with miniature lilies in your corsages. Keep the aesthetic simple and elegant with white flowers and ribbons, or add a splash of color with brighter blossoms. Whatever you choose, calla lilies can lend an effortless sophistication to your event.
The only thing that could improve upon the beauty of flowers is if they could be everlasting. While there is no way to preserve a natural blossom eternally, you can create a bouquet of long-stemmed, fabric flowers that lasts indefinitely. This project is ideal for a bride who wants to keep her bouquet vibrant and intact as a reminder of her momentous day. It is also a valuable home decorating craft if you want to use the same bouquet as a constant decoration, but want to avoid replacing an organic bouquet weekly.
Flowers make ideal subject matter to create in a vector drawing program such as Adobe Illustrator because of the geometric precision of their shapes and forms. Illustrator's Pen tool -- along with some help from Illustrator's reshaping tools -- can help you make quick work of the task of crafting flower artwork. Although you can create your flower by drawing each petal individually, you can mimic nature's symmetry by building all your petals from one piece of master artwork.
Fabric and ribbon flowers are decorative solutions to a wardrobe that needs freshening up. The accessories are fashionable year round and never go out of style. Innovative and eye-catching, the flowers can liven any piece of clothing, and they never wilt and are always in season. Many variations of the flowers can be made to help spruce up purses and shoes as well as clothes. From bridal attire to kids clothing, fabric and ribbon flowers are the inexpensive way to make your own style.
If you're looking for a creative alternative to fresh flower gifts, treat a loved one to a seashell-inspired rose. You can create rose-shaped crafts using a variety of iridescent oyster shells. Use shells that you gathered on your last beach vacation as a budget-friendly option, or buy the shells at a craft store. In addition to making unique gifts, seashell roses make attractive table decor for anniversary dinners, wedding receptions and Valentine's Day soirees.
Roses come in nearly any color, making them an ideal flower choice for home decor and crafts. Use artificial or real roses to create rose balls, which you can suspend from the ceiling. You can use these rose balls to decorate for a wedding, bridal shower, baby shower or for everyday decor. Make roses, dye roses or buy roses in the desired colors. Use white roses for wedding decor, pink or blue for baby decor, and any color to spruce up your home.
Native to Asia, the hydrangea bush, also known as Hydrangea macrophylla, produces round bouquet-like clusters of small flowers. The flowers that emerge in the spring are typically either blue or pink, although there is also a white variety. Blue hydrangea flowers grow in an acidic soil where aluminum is absorbed into the plant through the roots. Pink hydrangea flowers grow in an alkaline soil where there is a lack of aluminum available to the bush. If you wish to change the color of your hydrangea flowers, you must change the soil conditions.
Creating an artificial flower requires attention to detail as well as a flair for style. You can make a flower shape from fabric that can be attached to a string to become a part of a necklace or pendant, or used as a decorative addition to a gift box. The do-it-yourself fabric flower you will make will replicate the petal shape of a rose.
Family members, friends and acquaintances often send funeral flower arrangements to honor the deceased individual and offer sympathy. Types of arrangements include casket sprays, funeral wreaths, standing sprays, gravestone saddles and flower baskets. You can create a keepsake of a loved one's funeral by preserving a few of the flowers from these arrangements. Pressing the flowers is a simple way to save the blooms.
